Earth Day Pictures: 20 Stunning Shots of Earth From Space

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Earth Day Pictures: 20 Stunning Shots of Earth From Space

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Earth Day From Above

Sapphire waters tinged with pink sediment seem to get tangled amid emerald vegetation in a satellite picture of Bombetoka Bay, on the northwestern coast of Madagascar.

To celebrate Earth Day National Geographic photo editors selected 20 of the most stunning pictures of Earth, as seen from space, including this jewel-toned shot of the island country off the African coast.

Captured in 2000 by a NASA satellite, the scene shows where the salty waters of the Mozambique Channel mingle with freshwater outflow from the island's Betsiboka River. Bombetoka Bay is home to some of Madagascar's largest mangrove forests, which provide shelter for diverse mollusks and crustaceans as well as habitat for sea turtles, water birds, and dugongs.

A "bubble" of steam surrounds volcanic ash rising from Sarychev Volcano, on the northwestern end of Matua Island, in a June 2009 picture taken by an astronaut. Matua is part of the Kuril Islands, a Russian archipelago that stretches from Hokkaido, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia (see map).

Spilled oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is seen offshore of Petit Bois Island and Horn Island in eastern Mississippi (see map) in a June 2010 satellite picture. (Related: "Gulf Oil Spill: One Year Later.")

Photograph courtesy NASA EO-1 and NASA Earth Observatory

Web of Light

Seen in a 2003 astronaut photograph, the city of São Paulo, Brazil (see map)—home to 17 million people—stands out like a beacon in the night. The variations in color are due to the city using different types of streetlights, according to NASA.

Tidal flats and channels on the western side of the Bahamas' Long Island (see map) are seen in a 2010 astronaut photograph.

Photograph courtesy NASA and NASA Earth Observatory

Thunderstorm Over Asia

A thunderstorm hovers over Asia in a 1999 astronaut photograph taken from the space shuttle Columbia. Although the precise location of the storm isn't known, the shuttle was passing over Myanmar (Burma) at the time the picture was taken. (Photo Gallery: Lightning.)

Photograph courtesy NASA

Scenic Routes

The ever shifting Rio Negro and many of its past paths curl across the Patagonia region of Argentina (see map) in a 2010 astronaut photograph taken from the International Space Station.

Photograph courtesy NASA and NASA Earth Observatory

Caustic Waters

Vivid Lake Natron in Tanzania (see map)—said by NASA to be the world's most caustic body of water—is a threatening shade of orange in a 2005 satellite image. Despite its reputation, the lake manages to host a native species of fish, the alkaline tilapia. (See: Megafishes.)

Photograph courtesy ASTER/JAXA/NASA and NASA Earth Observatory

March to the Sea

The Neumayer Glacier on South Georgia Island, east of the southern tip of South America (map), creeps ever closer to the ocean in a 2009 satellite image. (Video: Glacier Melt.)

Photograph courtesy EO-1/NASA and NASA Earth Observatory

Made by Meteorite

In a satellite image released in 2004, salty seasonal lakes are brightly evident within the Shoemaker impact structure—at 1.7 billion years old, the oldest known meteorite-impact site in Australia. (Photos: Asteroids and Comets.)

Photograph courtesy Landsat/USGS

Sea Snakes

Gullies slithering through sandbanks are seen in the Wadden Sea, near the Netherlands, in a 2006 satellite image.

Photograph courtesy CNES/Spot Image/ESA

Iceberg Nursery

In a 2010 satellite picture, the Matusevich Glacier calves new icebergs into an Antarctic channel, which cuts between the Lazarev Mountains and the Wilson Hills. (Read a first-person account of visiting Antarctica.)

Photograph courtesy EO-1/NASA and NASA Earth Observatory

Desert's End

In Eastern Algeria's stretch of the Sahara, the Tifernine Dune Field—a section of the Grand Erg Oriental dune sea (see map)—meets the Tinrhert Plateau, as seen in a 2008 astronaut photograph.

Photograph courtesy NASA via NASA Earth Observatory

Cloud Vortices

Cloud vortices, or von Kármán vortices, create patterns in the sky near the Cape Verde Islands off northwestern Africa (see map). The vortices are caused by wind rushing over the islands. (Pictures: "New Cloud Type Discovered?")